Unbreakable | Kami Garcia | Book Review

I think that I am easily convinced, or at least easily worn down when it comes to what books I read and when. I put Unbreakable by Kami Garcia into my SOONER rather than LATER pile, and then eventually my Readathon pile because I had received a copy of it in the mail with a bag of salt and like three emails about it. You guys, emails and copies of a book equals PRESSURE PRESSURE PRESSURE for me. I just cannot resist pressure. So, it was with a skeptical sort of mind that I dived into Unbreakable, ready to read it quickly and get it into my donate box. My overall reaction to Unbreakable once I finished was one big Kanye shrug. I swear, I will explain why I just don’t have it in me to love this book.

Kennedy lives with her mother and her cat, Elvis in a Washington, DC suburb. She’s a smart girl with an awesome best friend. Anyways, Kennedy’s cat, Elvis, runs away to this graveyard where Kennedy sees a woman pretty much floating. She writes it off though and comes home. THEN, her best friend decides to convince her to go to the movies and you know, leave the house. Kennedy receives an awesome pair of boots from her mother and goes. When she comes back, the house is unnaturally cold. OH YEAH and her mother is DEAD, killed by ghosts, I guess. Twin boys show up at Kennedy’s house and tell her that ghosts are real and You’re A Wizard, Harry. Well, not the you’re a wizard, but you get the gist. Kennedy is, by blood, part of an elite group of demon hunters known as Legion. No, she’s not in LULZSEC or Anonymous or anything cool like that. Oh and there’s also the illuminati? So anyways, Legion decides to hunt down the pieces of a telescope called The Shift because it’s supposed to trap this bad demon guy who was let out centuries ago. And that, friends, is the plot of Unbreakable by Kami Garcia. A lot going on in a book of under 310 pages (at least, my copy had 310 pages).

In order to understand my disinterested feelings toward Unbreakable it is kind of necessary to talk about Kennedy, the protagonist. You guys, I usually have to find the protagonist interesting or well developed to like a book. Heck, even a bit likable sometimes. I felt that Kennedy read as a door mat blank slate. LOL, she often feels bad because LOL she has a photographic memory LOL and the other kids are jealous of her/dislike her because of it. You guys, is this even a thing? Do people honestly actually give a shit how you do on tests if you get good grades? I thought we lived in the 2000s where everyone has figured out that if you don’t go to college, you won’t get a good job or good money. I just LOLed at all those omg my memory is photographic I am such a loser bits. I kind of wish that Kennedy would have grieved a bit more for her mother and that she would have been just a bit more interesting. There’s another character in the book, Alara, who is Hatian and kick ass and awesome. It’s too bad it wasn’t told from her perspective.

Now, there is a romance in Unbreakable, but it made me groan. You see, there are twin brothers named Jared and Lukas. They are both members of Legion selected by their dad and their uncle. One works weapons and the other does analysis and hacking. One is emotionally distant and guarded. The other is open and funny and sweet. Obviously, Kennedy gets into a love triangle and has attraction to both twins, LOL. But of course, she has more feelings for the brooding one, OF COURSE. Sigh. I just can’t.

I will admit, the whole demon fighting, exorcism ghost thing is kind of cool. BUT, there’s never a moment where everything clicks in my head and I am like oh yeah fist pumps of excellence. I mean, here’s the thing, the writing is just fine, I read this book in like 2 hours. I didn’t get tripped up over anything. Nor did I say, wow that is awkward sentence structure. However, I just really failed to connect with this book overall. Maybe if there wasn’t a cliffhanger or if there wasn’t a love triangle. Instead, this book feels like it’s trying to make fetch happen. I made this comparison in g-chat and I think it’s fitting for here – ‘you know those kids who wear things that were cool like 2 years ago but aren’t cool anymore? This book is one of those kids.’ That’s my feeling overall about Unbreakable. I probably would have liked Kami Garcia’s solo effort better had I read it during that whole paranormal, love triangle craze.

Disclosure: Review Copy Provided By Publisher, along with a bag of salt WTF

Other reviews of Unbreakable by Kami Garcia:

Dear Author – “wastes no time kicking the story into gear”
Finding Bliss In Books – “Fast, lively, and absolutely heart-pounding”
Into The Hall Of Books – “an engaging story that was action-packed and exciting”

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April (Books&Wine)

April is in her 30s and created Good Books And Good Wine. She works for a non-profit. April always has a book on hand. In her free time she can be found binge watching The Office with her husband and toddler, spending way too much time on Pinterest or exploring her neighborhood.

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